This invention generally relates to a device for selectively forming a post hole cavity in a material during the solidification of the material with the hole or cavity being designed to receive a post or any other type of stanchion. In the past, post holes or cavities which were provided in a solid material such as a poured concrete slab were formed by core drilling the slab at appropriate locations after the slab had solidified. This procedure proved to be both time consuming and expensive. Accordingly, those in the art have attempted to obviate this problem by utilizing post hole forming devices which formed the post-receiving cavity or hole during solidification of the concrete slab as opposed to after solidification thereof. One such device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,255,913 to Poma. This patent discloses utilization of a hollow sleeve bracket member to form the post-receiving cavity by first positioning the bracket on the reinforcing rods or mesh upon which the concrete will be poured and then pouring the concrete into a retaining (or shaping) mold which is positioned on the reinforcing rods up to a height not to exceed the top of the hollow bracket. Upon solidification of the concrete the bracket defines a post-receiving cavity into which a L-shaped post is placed and bolted to the bracket. The patent also discloses that a plurality of the devices may be selectively positioned with respect to each other by connecting them to stringers or runners. While this system may perform adequately, it suffers from several drawbacks. One such drawback is that the workers utilizing the device must be careful not to pour the concrete material directly into the interior of a hollow bracket or, for that matter, to pour an amount of concrete into the concrete retaining mold, which would result in the concrete flowing over the top edge of the bracket and down into its interior. Another disadvantage is that a mechanism bolting operation to secure the post within the hollow bracket is necessary, and since this bolting operation must occur down inside the hollow bracket and by those in the field, it is time consuming and requires significant labor.
Another prior device which has been utilized to form a post-receiving hole or cavity within a concrete slab during its solidification is illustrated in FIG. 1. This device generally includes a support arrangement for positioning and holding a post-receiving cavity form which is selectively removable from the support arrangement. The post-receiving cavity form of this prior device maybe generally described as an inverted generally rectangular shaped cup the lower edge of which has been provided with two outwardly projecting tabs on the opposite sides thereof. The projecting tabs are configured to be inserted into two corresponding recesses in the sides of the support arrangement. Such insertion may occur either slidingly by laterally aligning the tabs and recesses and applying lateral force or by a "snap-fit" insertion by pressing the post-receiving cavity form downward into the support arrangement and between the side walls thereof with the outwardly projecting tabs passing downwardly along the inner surface of the side walls of the support structure until they snap into their respective recesses. In use, the thus assembled combination of the support structure in the post-receiving cavity form is selectively placed in a manner essentially equivalent to the above-described placement of the hollow bracket of the Poma patent wherever formation of a post hold is desired. A plurality of these devices may be selectively positioned with respect to each other by inserting a support channel of steel or other material into one of the retaining channels which project from the exterior surfaces of the side walls of the support structure. Thereafter, the concrete or other appropriate material is poured, as discussed above, into the mold up to a level not exceeding the top of the post-receiving cavity form. After the concrete has solidified, the post-receiving cavity form is forcibly disengaged from the support structure and the concrete generally by piercing the top of the support-receiving cavity form and pulling upwards to disengage the tabs from their respective recesses. While this device appears to be an improvement over the Poma device, it too is subject to certain drawbacks and disadvantages. One such drawback is that a relatively large number of post-receiving cavity forms having various depths must be maintained in stock due to the fact that the depth of the concrete slab will vary depending upon the application in which it will be utilized. That is, deeper post-receiving cavity forms will be necessary for applications requiring concrete slabs of increased depth since the top of the post-receiving cavity form must protrude out from the concrete after it has been poured. Another disadvantage of this device is that it is difficult to disengage the tabs from their respective recesses after the concrete has solidified when it is desired to remove the post-receiving cavity form from the support structure to reveal the post hole or cavity which has been formed within the concrete. Such difficulty can result in time delays and increased labor costs in removing each post-receiving cavity form from its respective support structure and the concrete slab.